When questions were raised about Barack
Obama's birth, and whether he was actually
eligible to be president of the United
States, he brushed the questions aside as if
answering them was beneath the dignity of a prince of
the crown. He let the questions fester for years before
putting them to rest.

It's still not clear why he did that. He preferred to
accuse inquiring minds that wanted to know of racism
and bigotry, as if the peasants had no right to ask questions
about the crown prince. The presidency is the most
precious honor Americans can bestow on one of their
own, but Mr. Obama treated the gift as nothing more than
a trinket he was entitled to, and who were these uppity
people to question him?

Only racists, bigots, mean-spirited zealots, right-wing
fanatics and white Christians who couldn't appreciate the
heavenly music of the call to evening prayer at the mosque
would do
that. Even
the mildest
criticism, of
the sort that
every president
before
him had to
endure, was dismissed as disrespect, even racism.

Hillary Clinton is trying a similar tactic, portraying
criticism of her vulgarity, her greed and her intolerance as
hatred of women, and envy of a woman finally breaking
through a crystal ceiling. It's not working, in part because
men have a reputation built over the centuries for mortgaging
their lives to provide for their women, and in part
because nobody knows better than women themselves
that the accusation is silly. Is there a woman anywhere
who wants a reputation for ethics, character and feminine
grace like Hillary's?

She, like candidates before her, may not like the questions,
but voters have the right to ask candidates, and
particularly candidates for president, any question they
please. It's what democracy and democratic elections are
about. "If you can't stand the heat," as Harry S. Truman
reminded everyone, "stay out of the kitchen."

The questions the Hillary campaign are trying to put
off limits now are the legitimate questions about Hillary's
health. She has a well-documented record of coughing fits,
fainting, stumbling up and down stairs, and uncontrolled
giggling and snorting at inappropriate times. There may
be good and sufficient reasons for all that, but it's not
against anybody's rules to ask what they are.

The first serious
health episode,
detailed in Edward
Klein's book, "Blood
Feud," about the
enduring friction
between President
Obama and the
Clintons dating from
the 2008 campaign,
occurred in Hillary's
office at the State Department.
She fainted
and was treated at
a State Department
clinic and sent home
to recover. That was
not good enough
for Bubba, ever the
faithful husband, who
insisted that she be flown to Manhattan and treated by
specialists at New York Presbyterian Hospital.

She is said to have been diagnosed with several problems,
including blood clots, one between her brain and
her skull. "The unique thing about clotting in the brain
is that it could have transformed into a stroke," a cardiac
specialist with no specific information about her case,
told the author. Such clots are said to be particularly vulnerable to
the pressures of flying.

Hillary suffered a fainting spell during a speech in
Buffalo in 2005, another while boarding her plane in
Yemen, which caused her to fall and break a bone in her
elbow. Someone applying for a job as a Toyota mechanic,
a long-distance truck driver or a newspaper columnist
would have to answer questions about his or her health,
but not a Democratic candidate for president of the
United States.

A columnist for The New York Times,
who you might think would cherish the First Amendment
guarantee of free inquiry, actually called on Google
to prevent Internet searches about Hillary's health to
silence "conspiracy theorists."

Internet web sites abound with demands that Donald
Trump release his tax returns to tell all about his
finances, and that would be a good thing, too. No less
important, and indeed perhaps more important, are legitimate
and respectful questions about Hillary's health.
Presidents have concealed health problems in the past,
from the wife of Woodrow Wilson shutting him off from
the world for months to run the country herself, to John
F. Kennedy's debilitating struggle with Addison's disease.

Her doctor says Hillary's in good health, and if so
that's good news. We should all send her the traditional
Chinese wish (slightly amended) for long life and many
(grand)children. But in return the American voter is
entitled to a detailed report of a thorough and independent
physical examination of both candidates. If such a
requirement is good enough for a truck driver, it's good
enough for a candidate for president of the United States.